Photo credit: Dave Newkirk for Daybreak

If I were to build a dream home anywhere on the planet, with all of my wishes granted, lakeside would be on the wish list.  What’s more relaxing and peaceful than open water?  And I haven’t visited many places more beautiful than Lake Village in Daybreak.

Daybreak asked me, as well as three other extremely talented design bloggers (Kirsten Krason, Marianne Brown, and Desiree Campbell), to virtually design a home.  We each were assigned a different builder, and we will pick everything for our houses– right down to all of the finishing touches.

We spent a full day exploring Daybreak and though I’ve visited it many times before (one of my dearest friends lives there), this was the first time I could absolutely see myself living there.  We explored parks, kayaked in the lake, went for a bike ride, shopped, ate, ate some more, and had such a wonderful day.

 Photos c/o Aly Brooks for Daybreak

The community atmosphere, children playing everywhere, convenient shopping and dining within walking distance, and trails make it so appealing for a family like mine, but also for everyone from newlyweds to empty nesters.

I attended a dinner at Daybreak on Saturday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the community and I was seated next to the Daybreak architect.  Like the man who designed not only many of the homes, but the parks, layout, and common spaces as well.  He said he wanted to create a destination, not just a neighborhood– where people could live without a vehicle (bike trails and train access), really enjoy the outdoors and the community with their neighbors.  It was fascinating to hear his take on each element of design.

I’ve done a lot of remodeling in my time.  Everything from early 1900’s architecture to 1990’s.  And while I’ve lived in new construction as well, I’ve never had the opportunity to actually build a home of my own from scratch, so I was thrilled at the prospect of designing a virtual dream house.

The thought of building a home can be both exhilarating and terrifying.  A first-time home builder can feel completely overwhelmed at the prospect of selecting everything from the location to all of the finishes.  If you’ve ever thought about building a house, get ready for a wealth of valuable information.

Every Wednesday for the next four weeks, we will each be sharing inside tips and tricks in the home building process.  I wanted to give you insight you’ve maybe never heard or considered, and my home builder, Rainey Homes, was fantastic.

That gorgeous white house on the lake?  That’s a Rainey home.  I worked closely with Justin Taylor, the Vice President of Rainey Homes, to break down the home building process into four videos, starting with choosing a lot and floor plan.  Take a look (fabulous work by James Young per usual on the shooting and editing!):

Next week, I’ll be sharing how to choose a floor plan and your exterior finishes.  I learned so much working on this series.  I hope you do as well!

And be sure to check out Kirsten, Marianne, and Desi’s first posts as well.  It’s so interesting to have four different perspectives and insights on similar projects.  You can also follow us on Instagram (details below).

Thank you to Daybreak for including me on such a neat project, and also to Rainey Homes for guiding me through the process.  Now, how to convince them to actually build my dream house for me and let me move in….